Artists should be demanding the closure of Creative Scotland

Dr Alice Tarbuck describes herself as a poet in much the same way as I might describe myself as a sprinter if I caught the 66 before it pulled away from the bus stop by the chippy.

By this, I mean I have a rough idea of the mechanics and, from a distance, it might even appear the run isn’t killing me but, look closely, and you’ll see I’m not really a sprinter. And Dr Tarbuck’s not really a poet.

In common with many people who work in the arts sector, Dr Tarbuck is not a serious creative person but a hobbyist, interested in her subject but not, herself, talented enough to practice it to any significantly interesting degree. The little work she has had published lacks rhythm, originality and, crucially, profundity. It’s squiggly nonsense for people who want the physical feeling of reading poetry without the associated complicated emotions.

Since she is an enthusiast with time on her hands, Tarbuck’s decision to seek employment with the arts quango Creative Scotland as a literature officer made sense. Her role in supporting and assisting writers was surely tailor-made.

Jenny Lindsay is not only a poet and prose-writer of some talent, she is currently the most significant figure in Scottish cultural life. Each and every one of us who makes a living by engaging with the world as we see it and trying to make some sense of it all owes Lindsay a debt of gratitude. In fact, if freedom of speech matters to you, then Jenny Lindsay is a figure of importance.

We have Tarbuck to thank for drawing sharp focus to this truth.

A series of often dumbfounding reports over recent days about the crisis in Creative Scotland included a revelation that shows why the organisation must be closed, immediately.

In June, Lindsay announced the forthcoming publication of her book Hounded, which examines the troubling modern phenomena of women being bullied out of jobs and public life for expressing views about gender and sex that don’t align with voguish opinion.

Five years ago, Lindsay – then one of the country’s leading performance poets – publicly called out a trans-identifying male writer for urging attacks on lesbians at a Pride march. Thanks to the bestupiding effects of trans ideology, Lindsay was swiftly identified among her peers as the villain of this bleak piece. She lost her career, all of her “friends”, and had to move back from Edinburgh to the Ayrshire town where she was raised.

Among those who turned on Lindsay were friends of Tarbuck.

Lindsay stood strong, refusing to compromise in the face of horrific abuse. She defended a precious right her tormentors don’t value at all.

So Lindsay was understandably shocked to discover – after every damned thing – that two days after announcing the publication of her book, Tarbuck had called a bookshop, urging them not to stock it.

Tarbuck, a quango employee whose sole responsibility is the nurturing and support of writers, abused her position to try to harm the career of a writer. Not only that, her behaviour was identical to that of her friends who’d terrorised the same writer back in 2019. One novelist friend asked me whether Tarbuck was stupid or sadistic, to which my reply was that she appears to be both. Perhaps this is the way in which Tarbuck, who (of course) identifies as a witch, contains multitudes.

Personal shame should see Tarbuck remove herself from the literary scene. And her behaviour should prevent any serious agent or publisher ever dealing with her. In the world of literature, Tarbuck should consider herself cancelled. And if she feels hard done by, she should promptly take the matter up with herself.

The scenario I describe would surely merit instant dismissal, wouldn’t you think? How could any writer ever trust her? How can anyone so overcome by a deranged ideology be allowed near any decisions involving public money?

Dr Alice Tarbuck doesn’t love writing. She may like certain writers (she’s very enthusiastic about her friends’ woeful poetry, for example) but she doesn’t even understand what writing is. She sought employment in a field where freedom of speech is first principles stuff and then tried to censor and cancel a writer with whom she personally disagreed.

Naturally, Creative Scotland tried to cover it all up.

The organisation went through a “disciplinary” procedure and allowed Tarbuck to remain in post. Not only that, it was agreed she would not deal with “gender critical” writers to avoid a “conflict of interest”.

That is deranged. Tarbuck is a living, breathing conflict of interest. Not only was she protected, her bosses made life more comfortable for her, removing from her the triggering duty of reading and thinking about things that made her unhappy, and allowing her to stay, a malevolent presence, a schoolyard bully given legitimacy, and then protected, by cowardly and amoral philistines.

The scandals swirling around Creative Scotland are many and bleak. The cumulative effect should be the humiliation of those senior executives who protected their six-figure pay and pension packages, while ignoring their responsibilities to the public purse, and then cut funding for new artists.

It would not, however, matter if Creative Scotland was in perfect financial health. The simple fact that an organisation established to support artists protected an employee who tried to cancel an artist is all we need to know. What happened was not merely an offence against Jenny Lindsay, it was an offence against art.

Naive artists, writers and musicians have spent much of the past week urging the Government to step in with a financial boost for Creative Scotland. It’s time for them to wise up.

Our national arts quango now exists only to employ those who work for it.

If you’re an artist with hopes for the future, you should be demanding Creative Scotland’s closure, not begging like a fool for it to be given a lifeline.